Operation: ARK ANGEL
Overview Following the Battle of SHADOW Base and the loss of Pandora's Box to a Zealot Strike Team, ONI and SPECWARCOM jointly devised Operation: ARK ANGEL on August 12th 2552. Operation: ARK ANGEL was a joint operation conducted by the UNSC's Special Warfare Command and the Office of Naval Intelligence Section III. The aim of Operation: ARK ANGEL was to retrieve a Tier One asset, codenamed Pandora's Box, relating to ONI Section III's efforts in reverse engineering recovered Covenant and Forerunner technologies. The UNSC hoped to achieve an advantage over the Covenant by attaining Forerunner-based weaponry from the artefact and it's capture by the Covenant represented an extremely significant security breach. The UNSC apparently placed a very high degree of importance upon the artefact as they expended vast amounts of resources for Operation: ARK ANGEL, reassigning and repurposing numerous assets for its completion, despite never having any assurances of developing new tech from the artefact. The survivors of ECHO Team, Brock-A223 and Kai-A019, were paired with Bain-G057 and Xanders-B055, SPARTAN-III Commando's kept on rotation for GAUNTLET Team. These SPARTAN-III's utilised MJOLNIR Mk V armour and formed REAPER Team, who were under the jurisdiction of SPECWAR/Group Three and commanded by Colonel McKellar. Headhunter team TROJAN Team was requisitioned by ONI Section III to participate in Operation: ARK ANGEL, with Headhunter's Robert-A134 and Eleanor-A115 being attached to REAPER Team as reconnaissance specialists. TROJAN Team was commanded by Captain Downes of ONI's Beta-5 Division. Mission Log *0600 hours, August 12th Operation: ARK ANGEL is drafted and green lit by UNSC SPECWARCOM and ONI Section III, operated by Colonel McKellar and Captain Downes respectively. REAPER and TROJAN Team are briefed on their mission and receive experimental equipment from SHADOW Base. The prototype weaponry from Project Sierra/SPECWEP is issued to the 6 SPARTANs and REAPER Team receive Linear Accelerator modules for their MJOLNIR armour, increasing their shield strength by 200%. They prepare for deployment from SHADOW Base. *0800 hours, August 12th ONI tracked Pandora's Box to Ütközet where the signal went cold. Intel gathered by NOBLE Team the night before uncovered a massive Covenant landing zone in Szurdok Ridge which was concealed inside a 'Dark Zone', prior to the UNSC's assault on the region. McKellar and Downes formulate a plan to find and retrieve the artefact during the Battle of Viery, the idea being to blow through the Covenant's defences whilst they're preoccupied with the main UNSC attack force. Multiple Falcon gunships were on standby for close-air support with two Pelican's stationed at separate locations for extraction. Teams REAPER and TROJAN are inserted into Ütközet at Pandoras Box's last known location, where they begin searching for the artefact. *0940 hours, August 12th With the destruction of the Covenant pylon at the hands of NOBLE Team, ONI could trace the location of Pandoras Box once more. McKellar uploads the coordinates to REAPER Team and they locate a highly fortified Covenant outpost at the waypoint, several kilometres south of their insertion point. Once they reach the area, they set up an observation point overlooking the area. TROJAN Team then infiltrates and recons the base, positively identifying Pandoras Box inside. REAPER Team advance towards the base, with Kai maintaining overwatch and monitoring comm channels as TROJAN Team plant explosives, disable enemy communications out of the area and establish exit routes. *1052 hours, August 12th REAPER Team neutralise Pandoras Box's guards and secure the artefact, beginning preparations for it's transportation. With the destruction of Spire One by the UNSC Grafton, the Supercarrier Long Night of Solace is revealed which heavily complicates their situation. With the UNSC assault force in full retreat, REAPER and TROJAN lose the distractive element integral to their escape. Complicating matters further is their discovery by the Covenant forces stationed at the base, who have discovered the sabotaged communications array. Due to the lack of communications from the base and the full retreat of the UNSC's invasion force, the Covenant now turn their attention onto the outpost. Several teams of Elite's led by the Field Marshal Zhol' Wamikai converge on REAPER and TROJAN's position with Banshee support from a SDV-Class Heavy Corvette. *1100 hours, August 12th *1300 hours, August 12th REAPER Team regroups at Shadow Base. Despite their defeat in Ütközet, Pandora's Box was still not lost. The destruction of the Covenant pylon by NOBLE Team during the Battle of Viery deactivated the 'Dark Zone', which allowed ONI to begin tracking the artefact once more. Pandora's Box was tracked to Covenant-controlled downtown New Alexandria, where it stopped moving. REAPER Team was deployed to Pandora's Box's coordinates and discovered a Covenant convoy establishing a perimeter surrounding Aeon Tower. REAPER Alpha and Bravo split up and infiltrated the tower undetected, securing several exfil routes and hiding charges throughout their path. After double checking for Pandora's Box's tracking beacon, they regrouped and breached the room containing the signal, only to find the tracking beacon has been removed from the artefact and discarded. A team of SpecOps Minors ambushed REAPER Team who fought off the attack and escaped through a maintenance tunnels and underground passageways whilst detonating the concealed charges inside Aeon Tower, collapsing it and killing all the Covenant inside. *1800 hours, August 12th REAPER Team arrive back at Shadow Base and are debriefed by Colonel McKellar. Bain-G057, Colonel McKellar and Captain Downes discuss alternative options of re-acquiring Pandora's Box, liaising with UNSC HIGHCOM to find a solution. Their solution was simple; find one of the Field Marshal's Zealots and persuade him to talk. *0000 hours, August 13th The Covenant ground assault continues, slowly and surely picking away at the UNSC's efforts of containment. Reach was losing ground and with the Covenant in possession of Pandora's Box it would only be a matter of time before it could be used against them. ONI, who had already hacked into the Covenant BattleNet, monitored the Network and managed to track down the Field Marshal's second in command, Rege'shi Vadam, who had been on ONI's radar for some time and possess detailed files on his exploits. Several communiqués' pointed towards the Zealot possessing information regarding Pandora's Box, with keywords such as 'Relic', 'Sacred' and the Sangheili word for 'Forerunner' contained within his transmissions. The UNSC Army identified a large Covenant outpost in the vicinity of the traced transmission and REAPER Team are deployed, tasked with extracting the information from the base's computers with ONI's intrusion software. *0200 hours, August 13th REAPER Team are dropped off via a Pelican several clicks south of the outpost to avoid detection. They evade patrols and recon the area, setting up a good surveillance position. Shadow Base trace another transmission from the Zealot and run translation programs through it. The transmission confirms Rege'shi Vadam's presence within the outpost and also reveals incoming Covenant forces to the area. Translation of the transmission place the incoming forces arriving in roughly four hours. REAPER Team proceed with forming an infiltration plan, using satellite feeds of the area to plan their engagement. *0430 hours, August 14th REAPER surveyed the area and noted the regular patrol times, patterns, air traffic, visible blind spots and the amount of enemy forces inside the outpost. Satellite scans showed a large stationary energy signature inside, which matched known signatures for Wraith's, Ghost's and Banshees. They split up, Kai-A019 and Brock-A223 provided sniper cover, whilst Bain-G057, Xanders-B055, Robert-A134 and Eleanor-B115 infiltrated the outpost. Bravo planted explosive charges inside the vehicles and plasma containers, setting them up in such a way to turn the entire outpost into crumbling ash. Bain and Brock isolated the location of the outpost's computers and waited for Bravo to get into position on the roof. Kai sent a live satellite feed back to the pair to determine the position and number of hostiles inside; Rege'shi Vadam, several Ultra's surrounding him and numerous other Elites dotted around inside. Kai and Xanders take out the guards outside the entrance. Bain and Brock breach through the entrance using EMP grenades. Simultaneously, Bravo breach through the roof and the four SPARTANs storm the control room. They swiftly eliminate the occupants in close proximity to the EMP grenade, leaving 3 Ultras and the Zealot remaining. In the ensuing fight, the Elites computer systems receive plasma damage and become inoperable. Eleanor and Robert pair up against the 3 Ultras whilst Bain and Brock tackle the Zealot. *0450 hours, August 14th REAPER Team update McKellar with their situation. With the outpost's computers damaged and with no time or equipment to recover them, REAPER Team are instructed to extract the information from the captive command crew. Kai silently takes out any wandering Covenant that get too close and Robert covertly takes care of the bodies. Brock keeps the ground teams updated with Covenant chatter around the base; they currently believe the comms blackout inside the outpost is due to faulty transmitters thanks to Eleanor sabotaging them in an effort to buy some time. Bain and Xanders then attempt to extract the information from the Zealot, interrogating him in the command centre. *1000 hours, August 14th After REAPER find out the location of Pandora's Box, they split up. REAPER Alpha scouts the site of a Cruiser; a mountain valley with a drop at one end. They prepare several areas in good defendable positions, placing explosives in each one. Alpha then hides a stolen Phantom a kilometre away from the Cruisers gravity lift site and then engage the Covenant on the ground, using heavy weapons and Lotus mines to draw in the Covenant's ground forces and attract their attention. A large security detail rushed the Forerunner asset into the gravity lift and into the safety of the Cruiser above. With the remaining forces engaging Alpha team, REAPER Bravo (Headhunters) silently infiltrate the Cruiser through the gravity lift. Once inside, initiate several ONI Intrusion Programs into the ship's computers, recovering a Covenant FoF ID tag and finding where Pandora's Box was being taken. They plant explosives on three exfil routes from Pandora's Box's containment facility to the belly if the ship. Alpha initiates phase two, and begin detonating the charges at each point, tactically retreating towards the cliff edge. Drawing as many Covenant towards them as possible, they detonated charges sealing the Covenant in and then feigned their deaths in a firefight by falling off the cliff's edge, using jetpacks to get to the stolen Phantom's location. Bravo team radio in and give Alpha the Covenant FoF tag, giving them the location of an empty hangar bay. REAPER regroup, with a large amount of the Covenant trapped on the ground, they proceed with repossessing Pandora's Box. 21:38:30 Grizzly: - Alpha's phantom gets compromised, they end up flying through and into the ships hangar via jetpacks 21:39:07 Grizzly: - Bravo capture Pandora's Box and call it in 21:39:41 Grizzly: - Alpha secures another evac phantom, and hold out whilst Bravo fights their way to them, using their pre lain explosives etc 21:41:10 Grizzly: - Alpha continues to hold off but the Phatom gets too damaged to fly, Bravo get surrounded and make a brutal last stand, detonating several explosive mines etc and take out their attackers with them 21:42:05 Grizzly: - Alpha abandon the Hangar and repossess Pandora's box next to Bravo etc 21:43:06 Grizzly: Then, using the rest of Bravo's network of explosives, they fight their way through the rest of the covenant and blow a hole in the side of the ship, and jump ount 21:44:15 Grizzly: using jetpacks and free fall, they land on the back of a longsword as frigate shows up and destroys the ship, as the longsword flies behind it with REAPER Alpha and Pandora's box secured on the back Trivia *Once ARK ANGEL was completed, REAPER Team was disbanded due to its temporary patchwork nature and the survivors were integrated into ECHO Team, who continued to operate during the last hours of Reach. Their last recorded orders place them being redeployed on August 23rd, 2552 to assist with civilian evacuations. It is unknown if they were among the few to survive the fall, but anecdotal evidence suggests that they did, and that they were invited to become a part of the next generation of SPARTANs; the SPARTAN IV's. *Operation: ARK ANGEL as its entire Machinima production has been through 5 rewrites as of 01/2014 and has been in production since late 2010.